The renowned atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has just written a book for children: “The Magic of Reality.” In this NEW AND UNCUT interview, Steve Paulson talks with Dawkins about the difference between supernatural magic and poetic magic, and why atheists no longer need to hide in the closet.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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If there’s one writer who’s identified with the Mississippi River, it’s Mark Twain. He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri — on the river’s edge — and as a young man, he worked as a steamboat pilot. And then he wrote the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the novel that turned the Mississippi into myth. But it also created one of the most enduring controversies in American literary history: how to depict race relations in America's past. In this interview, Andrew Levy says that "Huckleberry Finn" is actually anti-racist — and when it was first published, the big controversy was about Twain’s depiction of wild children.
In 2009, Eric Glatt did the unthinkable for an unpaid intern — he sued his employer, Fox Searchlight Pictures, alleging that they violated the Labor Department's standards for internships. He describes why he believes unpaid internships threaten workers everywhere.
Patricia O’Connor tells Jim Fleming there’s nothing wrong with splitting an infinitive and that people should stop trying to make English behave like Latin.
For centuries, the oddities of nature - like two-headed cats and conjoined twins - fascinated people. Science historian Lorraine Daston says a history of wonders is to some degree a history of pre-modern science.
Marla Cilley tells Anne Strainchamps that an orderly house begins with a clean, shiny kitchen sink, and that women should wear lace up shoes so that they’re ready for anything.
For Women's History Month, we're celebrating one of history's forgotten women, Jane Franklin. Harvard historian Jill Lepore talks about why she chose to write a biography of Ben Franklin's sister.
Jason Goodwin won the Edgar Award for "The Janissary Tree," his first novel featuring Yashim Togalu, a eunuch who lives in 19th century Istanbul. Yashim is back in "The Snake Stone."
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